Saul’s gold watch represents the Golds’ awareness of their mortality. After Saul dies, his watch is passed down to Simon, followed by Klara, Daniel, and then Varya—the exact order in which the Gold children are predicted to die. Watches are inherent reminders of time, and therefore it is apt that the watch follows this order of ownership; the watch always belongs to the Gold sibling who has the least time left to live and is therefore most aware of time passing. Saul died at 45 and was likely unable to take full advantage of his life because he died so unexpectedly young. Thus, when the watch passed to Simon, who does know that he will die young, it becomes a constant reminder of his little remaining time.
When Simon dies and the watch passes to Klara, she also uses the watch to time “knocks” that she thinks Simon is using to communicate with her from beyond the grave. Thus, the watch is a constant reminder that Simon is dead, but it also indicates that Klara is trying to subvert mortality in using the watch to communicate with him. After Klara’s death, the watch passes to Daniel, but he immediately gives it to Varya instead. This suggests that Daniel doesn’t want to think about his death, an apt decision for his character because he doesn’t believe in the fortune teller’s prophecy. Giving up the watch indicates that he is actively trying to remain unaware of the time he has left, because he is insistent that he has more time than the fortune teller predicted.
Saul’s Gold Watch Symbol Timeline in The Immortalists
